Highlights of 2020 economic stimulus package

PUTRAJAYA: Following are the highlights of the 2020 Economic Stimulus Package unveiled by Interim Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today:

• Introduction of 2020 Economic Stimulus Package is to ensure economic risks associated with the Covid-19 outbreak is effectively addressed
• The stimulus package valued at RM20 billion is anchored on three strategies as follows:

Strategy I: Mitigating impact of Covid -19;

Strategy II: Spurring rakyat (people) centric economic growth; and

Strategy III: Promoting quality investments

• To mitigate the impact, the Government will implement a three-pronged approach — first, to ease the cash flow of affected businesses, second, to assist affected individuals, and third, to stimulate demand for travel and tourism.
• The Government will give a one-off payment of RM600 each to taxi drivers, tourist bus drivers, tourist guides and registered trishaw drivers.
• Government staff directly involved in the containment efforts will be eligible for a special monthly critical allowance of RM400 for medical doctors and other medical personnel, as well as RM200 for immigration and related front-line staff commencing February 2020 until the end of pandemic.
• The Government will provide the necessary resources to ensure COVID-19 disease is well managed.
• The Government will provide double deduction on expenses incurred on approved tourism-related training. 
• The Government will also provide up to RM100 million on a matching grant basis to HRDF to fund an additional 40,000 employees from the tourism and other affected sectors.
• The Government will also provide RM50 million to subsidise short courses in digital skills and highly skilled courses. This incentive is expected to benefit 100,000 Malaysians.
• The Employee Insurance Scheme (EIS) will increase the claimable training cost from RM4,000 to RM6,000 for the affected sectors. A daily training allowance of RM30 per day will also be provided to trainees under EIS.
• personal income tax relief of up to RM1,000 on expenditure related to domestic tourism;

• Malaysians will be eligible to get digital vouchers for domestic tourism of up to RM100 per person for domestic flights, rails and accommodation at licensed hotels.
• Additional matching grants for tourism promotion will be provided. An allocation of RM500 million is provided for the vouchers and tourism promotion.
• Relaxation of existing guidelines limiting use of hotels by Government agencies as part of mitigating the reduced demand.
• The minimum Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contribution by employees will be reduced by 4% from 11% to 7%, with effect from 1 April 2020 to 31 December 2020. 
• This (minimum EPF contribution) will potentially unlock up to RM10 billion worth of private consumption. Malaysian workers have the option to opt out from the scheme and maintain their contribution rate.

• Payment of RM200 to all Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) recipients scheduled for May 2020 will be brought forward to March 2020.
• An additional RM100 will be paid into the bank accounts of all BSH recipients in May 2020. Subsequently, an additional RM50 will be channelled in the form of e-tunai.
• Agrofood facility of RM1 billion will be provided by BNM at an interest cost of 3.75% to promote food production activities to meet domestic and export demand.
• RM10 million allocation to FAMA to provide food storage facilities to help reduce food prices. 
• Grants of RM1,000 to 10,000 local entrepreneurs to promote sale of their products on e-commerce platforms.
• Allocation of RM20 million to Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) for Perkhidmatan e- Dagang Setempat (PeDAS) programme to transform Pusat Internet Desa into e-commerce hubs.
• The Government will allocate an additional RM2 billion for the immediate implementation of small infrastructure repair and upgrading projects nationwide especially in rural areas. To ensure that the projects are effectively implemented for the benefit of the rakyat, the allocations will be channelled in partnership with State Governments, local authorities, NGOs and local communities.
• The projects need to be implemented expeditiously in order to give positive impacts in stimulating economy. To expedite the implementation of all projects, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) will provide special relaxation on financial procedures for the year 2020 as follows:
• Increase procurement threshold value for balloting from RM50,000 to RM100,000 and for quotations from RM500,000 to RM800,000;
• Ensure Ministries channel sufficient allocations to respective implementing agencies by first quarter of 2020. MoF will oversee the compliance to procurement schedule to ensure projects are undertaken on a timely basis. – Bernama